In the beginning I thought it was a facade myself. I always thought he was an ass but I didn’t realize how awful he really is.
This “tough” guy wants respect and no amount of money has bought it for him and it infuriates him. Like most bullies he punches down when feeling threatened.
So did I.
Because I did not have a Sander Vanocur (an old-time JOURNALIST of the 1960s) to inform me that Trump was and is a sociopath.
Add to that all those older Republicans who have carried a demented grudge against Democrats and the media ever since Nixon resigned.
‘We Have To Beat The Savages’
…said the barbarian at the prate.
I do remember Sander Vanocur, a real journalist whose behavior exemplified what we expected from those in that profession. I can’t think of a single individual who is Vanocur’s equivalent today.
"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that the country needed to be able to torture to “beat ISIS” and “beat the savages.”
Hard cases make bad law. When you allow the “savages” to determine international norms you give to them the power to set the norms of moral authority… The norms to which your own soldiers that you put in harm’s way become subject. (Edit) Not to mention your own intelligence agencies say torture is ineffective and hence a waste of resources.
“The great hard cases make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their importance… but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
So Trump is a walking talking poster boy for “distorted judgment.”
O absolutely. I always thought W was their revenge but hell, they just get more intensely enraged.
What it really is is that these are the people who do not want to share this country with liberals and people who aren’t white. They are furious that they have to share this nation with us - just furious.
Not in broadcast. There are some well-meaning, fairly talented people working but not of that caliber. But in print, you have James Fallows. There are some younger folks out there with a different ethos but just as much talent and insight—Ana Marie Cox and Jim Newell come to mind. Green shoots in a burned-over forest.
Well, I’m gonna wait for Joe Scarboro’s input before I decide how to feel about this!
American Exceptionalism: We’re so exceptionally good that we can do exceptionally bad things, like torture, without becoming bad ourselves. Plus, we only torture the really bad guys, and we know they’re the really bad guys because they admit it when we torture them. Now how could anyone argue with logic like that!
I also well remember Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. Real journalists presenting real news and rebuttals. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine and get rid of the talking heads and bottle blonds.
Thanks for that list - you are right about James Fallows and Ana Marie Cox (I don’t know the work of Jim Newell.) My own initial reaction was too narrow and exclusive. It is just so demoralizing to read or see much of the “media analysis” we get today.
Jim Newell’s at Slate these days. If you like Ana Marie you’ll like him; he spent a few years at Wonkette himself. Funny but whip-smart and deeply knowledgeable about politics. I hope Alex Pareene finds another writing gig some time. And I don’t think you’re wrong to lament the banality of broadcast. It’s been that way for decades for reasons we know perfectly well. Damn shame because it can be a very powerful and immediate medium if done right. : (
I remember him
Yes. He and Frank McGee, John Chancellor and Edwin Newman were giants who asked tough questions. I recall that team on the floor of the GOP convention in 1964, the last time the Republican right wing extremists, Birchers and conspiratorialists took over that party.
Had not thought of Vanocur in ages.
Those of us of the age who remember this breed of journalist-- will be the last.
The knowledge of that veracity dies with us.
Was Ned Ludd right?
They said Ned Ludd was an idiot boy
That all he could do was wreck and destroy, and
He turned to his workmates and said: Death to Machines
They tread on our future and they stamp on our dreams.
jw1
chopping, chopping, chopping
Glad I missed him, a Sunday without Trump has a purity once reserved for Sunday.
Trump, last evening, showed us that Ben Carson wasn’t, actually, the craziest candidate…
The networks are out of the business of giants when midgets on stilts work cheaper and without all the attitude…
ISIS is being attacked,bombed,and degraded everyday. Many of their leaders have been killed. We are hearing less,and less from then all the time. Iraqi security forces are growing stronger everyday,and making great gains against ISIS. This is how it needs happen to keep the region stable.
The way Obama is handing the situation is very smart,and it will be successful in time. God forbid Idiot Trump has any say in the matter. He would screw it up royally and cause decades more of unnecessary suffering.
I miss Charles Kuralt. A good “On the Road” piece was near-magical.